


All My Friends

by 2amEuphoria



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: "It's so fluffy I'm gonna DIE", Brightwell, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Light-Hearted, New Year's Fluff, Romantic Fluff, What's that quote from Despicable Me?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22079020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2amEuphoria/pseuds/2amEuphoria
Summary: "You could always just be honest…""-You don’t know girls, do you? Ainsley failed you. I’ll need to have a chat with her about this."Brightwell on New Year's Eve.
Relationships: Malcolm Bright/Dani Powell
Comments: 10
Kudos: 77





	All My Friends

**Author's Note:**

> _“All my friends are wasted  
>  And I hate this club  
> Man, I drink too much  
> Another Friday night I've wasted  
> My eyes are black and red  
> I'm crawling back to your bed” _
> 
> -Snakehips ft. Tinashe & Chance the Rapper, “All My Friends”

Green, blue, red and yellow strobe lights flash against her brown eyes, and she wishes she was somewhere else.

Her heels are rubbing blisters against her toes. Her forehead’s already aching. The martini in her hand was _definitely_ not worth the $12 she paid for it. She’s not even sure what her friend screeched at her from two bar stools away, so she just laughed back at her- _close enough,_ she thinks. 

They’re friends from high school she hasn’t seen in years. Two weeks ago they begged her to come out with them to a club on New Year’s Eve, and with a little persuasion from Malcolm, she agreed to go. She’s glad she went, or at least she was two hours ago, because now all three of them are too drunk to bond, the music too loud to dance to, and all she wants to do now is be somewhere different.

At his place. In his bed. With him.

Her lockscreen is void of notifications. Still. 

She sighs and gives in.

 _Don’t you miss me yet?_ She texts him.

Her gaze fixates on the screen, as if doing so will get him to respond faster. Her friend swats her shoulder, demanding her attention, so Dani tries to comprehend her slurred speech until her phone vibrates against her thigh.

_Of course I do. I’m just letting you have fun because you deserve to._

She rolls her eyes. Curse him for being so damn respectful. The one time she wishes he was bothering her…

_You wanna call me, get me outta here?_

Whatever excuse he comes up with is fine; she’ll take anything at this point. Dani’s mentioned to both her friends-who were all too curious to hear about this new, FBI-trained boyfriend of hers-that he “has his quirks.” Hopefully they won’t bat an eyelash if she says he has to leave because he had a night terror at 10:15 p.m. Maybe they’d be so confused and inebriated that they wouldn’t even be able to come up with questions to ask.

 _What do you mean?_ He replies. 

_You’ve never bailed somebody out of a social situation by calling them and coming up with a stupid excuse?_ It’s getting harder and harder for her to not be glued to her phone. She’s too keen on escaping.

_No? You could always just be honest…_

She’s mentally flipping him off. _You don’t know girls, do you? Ainsley failed you. I’ll need to have a chat with her about this._

He sends her back a laughing emoji.

_Just follow my lead when you pick up, ok?_

Before her friends can notice, she taps the phone icon on her screen under his name and waits-eagerly-for his voice.

“Dani? I don’t-”

“Hey babe, what’s wrong?” She feels her friends’ eyes on her and puts up a finger to them in response. Luckily for her, the club’s so loud that they might not even be able to hear his adorable confusion on the other line.

“I- Uh- Oh. Um, Gil called. Says there was a big break in a case, and that we need to get to work, um, right now.”

She shakes her head-her friends interpret it as her being annoyed, but she’s actually doing so because his response is _so_ him. 

“Will you come meet me here, and bring some clothes for me to change into at the station? I’ll text you the club's address again.”

“Do you really want-”

“You’re the best. Love you. Bye!” She hangs up before he can process anything else.

With a quick (bullshit) explanation for her friends as she retrieves her jacket from the coat check, and a hug for each of them, she extricates herself from the bar and waits by the door. 

She gets one more text from him: _Do you really want the change of clothes?_

 _No, silly,_ she texts back. _Just come here._

__________________

He swings open the door of the Uber he’s in and she can’t remember the last time she’s been this relieved to see him. She slides in and gives him a passionate kiss he isn’t prepared for, whispering “thank you” when they finally pull apart. 

The driver eyes them from his rearview mirror. “If he hadn’t filled me in on the way here, I’d think he was coming from a corporate party and you were having a night out on the town, and that you guys must’ve had some serious booze to end up in my backseat together.” 

They laugh, acknowledging how different they look-him in his peacoat and one of his suits from work earlier today, her with her jacket draped over her glittery tank top and velvet skirt. This isn’t the first comment they've gotten about how surprising it is that they’re a couple, though this is certainly one of her favorites now.

“It does kind of look like that, huh?” She remarks, tucking her head against his shoulder while he pulls her closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

They stay wrapped in each other’s arms the whole drive back to his apartment.

__________________

“You know, at first when you used work as an excuse, I was amused because it felt so automatic, so you.”

They’re on the couch, waiting for the ball to drop on TV, her head on his chest and his fingers combing through her hair.

“And?” Malcolm begs her to go on.

“Now I see why you chose that. Brianna and Jen wouldn’t let me leave if your place was on fire. They’d let me leave for a case, though.”

“When in doubt, revert to murder,” he hums. She casts him a look, shaking her head at him when he throws his head back and laughs harder. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” he promises, tempering Dani with his lips against hers.

“I was very confused by that whole experience, though. I didn’t realize that fake excuse phone calls were a thing you could use to get out of something. I should try that on my mother sometime.”

“I’m sure that you could’ve been saved from a billion obligations with her if you’d tried it. Honestly, I bet Ainsley does it all the time and you haven’t even noticed.”

“Hmm. I’m sure you’re right.”

“Always am.”

The countdown’s about to start before he speaks again.

“That wasn’t the only part of the phone call I was confused about, though.”

“Oh?” She asks, eyebrows knitted together.

“You called me ‘babe,’ which I’ve never heard come out of your mouth before, but it was pretty adorable nonetheless.”

She blushes.

“That, and before you hung up, you said you loved me.”

She pauses for a minute before she twists in his arms, propping herself up to face him. “I did?”

“It’s okay, you had a lot to drink,” he instantly backpedals. “I understand.”

Her face is even more red-both their faces are now-and she thinks for a moment. “I haven’t said that before, have I?”

“No, but like I said, you drank a lot, it’s okay-”

“I meant it, though,” her gaze is serious now. “It wasn’t the alcohol. I love you.”

He cups her cheek in his palm. “I love you, too. I... I realized it for a couple weeks now, but I wasn’t sure exactly when to tell you.”

Her eyes are watering, and she reaches out to brush a lock of hair that’s fallen in front of his face. “Usually when you feel it, you say it. But it also just kinda… comes out sometimes.”

He looks guilty. “It’s okay,” she reassures. “Lucky for you, I let the cat out of the bag first.” 

“I’m lucky. I’m very lucky,” he murmurs in between the kisses he gives her.

“As am I.”

Their eyes are only pulled away from each other by the flashes of the TV.

“Oh,” he observes. “I love you, and Happy New Year too, by the way.” 

“I love you too, Sherlock Freud,” she says when she’s finally controlled her giggling. “and Happy New Year too, I guess.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year, everyone!


End file.
